Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!dptcdc!lethe!dave
From: dave@lethe.UUCP (Dave Collier-Brown)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Complex Instructions
Summary: Sidebar re providing a language inexpensively.
Message-ID: <2472@lethe.UUCP>
Date: 7 May 89 02:30:47 GMT
References: <57252@yale-celray.yale.UUCP> <4101@tolerant.UUCP> <134@dg.dg.com> <2249@pembina.UUCP> <1281@l.cc.purdue.edu> <2253@pembina.UUCP>
Reply-To: dave@lethe.UUCP (Dave Collier-Brown)
Followup-To: comp.misc
Organization: Somewhat bimodal right now, news courtesy of Systems Software
Lines: 31


In article <1281@l.cc.purdue.edu> cik@l.cc.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
HR>I have made one concrete suggestion for something which is not a language,but
HR>which would make for versatile relatively easy programming. It is a versatile
HR>macro processor; maybe one should call it a user-controlled semi-compiler. 
HR>...an example for the use of a single machine instruction on the CYBER 205...

In article <2253@pembina.UUCP> cdshaw@pembina.UUCP (Chris Shaw) writes:
>I guess my point is that if you only want nifty expressions for the 205, you're
CS>simply asking for a spoonful of syntactic sugar, assuming that the #asm
CS>thing allows proper data structure access. If the compiler-asm link is
CS>inadequate, then this is probably a straightforward system fix. I'd wager that
CS>the grail -- portable and maximally efficient -- is impossible.

  I'm inclined to agree that portability and maximal "fit" to the machine are
probably incompatable, but I rather like the idea of using a general-purpose
macroprocessor to mock up a mini-language.

  Andy Tannenbaum (of Minix fame) used to suffer from similar financial
strictures, and used the same solution. He carefully misused a macroprocessor.
(The article, I believe, was in SP&E many moons ago).

--dave (1: this is getting awfully far from architecture
        2: I'd use lisp to write the translator, myself) c-b


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